Public housing faces smoking ban

Elizabeth Shackett has a sign on the door to her home at Pearl Brook Apartments in Lunenburg warning visitors that oxygen is used inside.

Shackett had to quit smoking a couple of months ago because of health problems, but doesn't begrudge her neighbors' right to smoke, she said.

"People have a right to do what they want in their home," said Shackett.

But Eugene Capoccia, executive director for the Leominster and Lunenburg housing authorities, wants to eliminate smoking in public housing starting with the Pearl Brook apartments.

He hopes to implement the policy in Lunenburg in the next few months.

Once the policy is worked out for Lunenburg, Capoccia said he would like to implement one in Leominster's public housing units as well.

"I've been pushing for it for quite some time because almost two years ago we had a fire in Lunenburg (in) which ... eight units were destroyed, there were a number of people displaced permanently, and one man lost his life," Capoccia said. "We feel pretty strongly about ending smoking in our senior housing."

The state Department of Housing and Community Development sent Capoccia an e-mail recently giving him permission to submit a proposal outlining details of the no-smoking proposal and how it would be enforced, he said.

Boston Mayor Thomas Menino made statewide news recently when he proposed banning smoking from public housing.

The cost of public housing is underwritten by taxpayers, said Gardner Housing Authority Executive Director David Curran.

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Renters who are responsible for their own utilities pay 27 percent of their adjusted gross income for rent. Tenants whose rent includes utility costs pay 30 percent of their adjusted gross income.

"Everybody's rent is different, but the state then subsidizes us for any deficit in our operating cost," Curran said.

Developing a policy for enforcing a smoking ban in public housing is a significant issue because officials can't actually go into residents' homes to watch them, Capoccia said.

A policy must also address implementation of the program because it would be difficult to ask somebody to quit cold turkey, he said.

Possibilities include telling new residents moving in that they cannot smoke or giving current residents a year to stop, he said.

Capoccia must also decide whether to implement a ban on smoking or create designated smoking areas outside the buildings.

"I think smokers are becoming more aware of other people's rights and they generally try to be respectful and go to one side where they won't bother anyone," Capoccia said. "That is the essence of what we will try to do, just encourage that behavior."

Fitchburg Housing Authority Executive Director Robert Hill said his office has discussed the idea of creating a no-smoking policy. But it's unlikely the authority will create a ban in the near future, he said.

"The reality is, it's tough singling out a particular class of people unless there is a concerted effort to make this universal," Hill said. "Meaning, if it was a statewide ban on smoking in public housing, it's more enforceable."

Miriam Miner has lived at Pearl Brook Apartments for eight years and is among several residents who remember the fatal fire.

Miner expressed mixed emotions about a smoking ban.

"There are some people who are very careful and do the proper thing and there are those who were negligent," she said. "I would like to think they would do it, but I don't know if it's fair for those that smoke."

Diane Monette, who quit smoking 16 years ago, is in favor of a smoking ban at Pearl Brook.

The venting system in the apartment buildings' bathrooms is connected so if one person is smoking, others in the building can smell it, she said.

"They can go outside and smoke, then it doesn't affect everybody," Monette said. "I quit for my health and now I don't want to smell everybody else's cigarette smoke."

Ed Boudreau said smoking in public buildings is a health issue. He and Monette circulated a petition requesting a ban inside the buildings.

Boudreau has asthma and bronchitis, so second-hand smoke is hard on him, he said. He quit smoking 17 years ago.

He and his wife, Phyllis, returned home a week ago and caught a whiff of cigarette smoke through the bathroom vent. An hour later, when they went to bed, the smell was permeating the home, he said.

Boudreau rejects the idea that a smoking ban would infringe on a person's individual rights.

"When you're doing something that's hurting someone else, then I feel their rights shouldn't mean as much as our rights," he said. "If they want to smoke, they can go right outside the door, you know what I'm saying?"

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